Cropping to Improve Composition

Whether recomposing for artistic reasons or changing the picture because of space limitations, you must sometimes crop an image. Cropping deletes (or in some cases, hides) part of an image. Photoshop offers a number of ways to crop, including commands and tools.

Cropping Versus Resampling

Cropping an image differs from resampling (resizing by changing the number of pixels portraying the same image) in a couple of important ways. Cropping typically maintains the image resolution and alters the picture by discarding some of the image data. Resampling typically maintains the image's visual content but changes the number of pixels presenting it. Figure 20.4 shows the difference.